439
_Met of corn, and wigte of fe_,
Measure of corn, and weight of goods.
The only objection against explaining _fe_ by goods or money is that in the
poem it signifies cattle, the proper term for goods, etc., being _agte_. In
Laȝamon _fe_, however, has the meaning of goods, money.
440
_And merke of felde, first fond he_,
And he first devised division (boundary) of fields (lands).
444 _at ðe sexte kne_ = at the sixth degree. _Kne_ in this sense is used
by Robert of Gloucester, p. 228:—"He come of Woden þe olde louerd, as in
teþe kne" (_i. e._ tenth generation). 450 _On engleis tale_ = in English
speech.
P. 14. l. 451 _kire_, modesty, purity. See Laȝ. l. 8077. K. Horn, l. 1446.
456
_He was hirde wittere and wal._
He was herdsman wise and experienced (skilful).
See Gloss. to Allit. Poems, s.v. _wale_.
457-8
_Of merke, and kinde, and helde, & ble,
sundring and sameni[n]g tagte he._
He taught of (concerning) the character, breed, age, colour [of cattle],
the keeping them asunder, and the matching them together. _merke_ refers,
perhaps, to the _form_, _shape_, etc., of the cattle, and _kinde_ to their
_pedigree_. 459 _glew_, music, still exists in glee, _gleeman_, etc., O.E.
_gleowinge_ = singing. _gleu_, to amuse by singing.
"Bi a piler was he þar sett
To _gleu_ þaa gomes at þair mete."—(Cursor Mundi, fol. 40b.)
Cf. _gleo_, music.—(Laȝ. i. 298.) _gleo-cræften_ = glee-crafts, arts of
music.—(Ibid. i. 299.) _gleo-dreme_ = glee-sound.—(Ibid. i. 77.) _gleowen_,
_gleowien_, to chant, play.—(Ibid. ii. 382, 429.) 466 _a sellic smið_, a
wonderful (rare) smith. 468 _To sundren and mengen_ = to separate (the ore
from the dross) and to mix (alloy).
469
_Wopen of wigte and tol of grið_
= weapon of war and tool of peace.
_wigte_ = _wig_ = war. _Wigte_ may signify sharpness; it usually = strong,
brave.
470
_wel cuðe egte and safgte wið._
This line seems to be very corrupt and to stand in need of some emendation.
I would propose to read as follows:—
_wel cuðe he fegte and sagte wið_
= well could he _fight_ [_i. e._ with the _wopen_ of _wigte_] and _heal_
with [the _tol_ of _grið_]. If this interpretation be right _tol of grið_
would refer to some curative agents. 472 _wurð bisne_, became blind.
"Þis Lamech was called Lamech þe blind,
Caym he slogh wit chaunce we find."—(Cursor Mundi, fol. 10.)
475
_Al-so he mistagte, also he schet,_
As he mistaught, so he shot.
477 _wende_ = _weened_, thought. 480-481 Cain unwarned, received it (the
arrow), groaned, and stretched (fell prostrate), and died with that
(immediately). _unwarde_ may be an error for _unwarnde_ = unwarned, or for
_unwared_ = A.S. _unwered_ = unprotected. 484 _dedes swog_ = death's swoon.
_Swog_ = O.E. _swowe_, _swoughe_.
"_Aswogh_ (in swoon) he fell adoun
An his hynder arsoun (rise of the saddle),
As man that was mate."—(Lybeaus Disconus, 1171.)
The verb to _swoon_ occurs often in English under the form _swoghen_ (p.p.
_yswowe_),
"The king _swoghened_ for that wounde."—(Kyng Alys., 5857.)
Cf. Laȝ. 130, "_he fel iswowen_;" i. 192, _stille he was iswoȝen_ (the
later copy reads _iswoȝe_).
486
_Of his soule beð mikel hagt._
On his soul is much sorrow.—(See l. 2044, p. 59.)
The literal signification seems to be thought, care. (See _Agte_ in l.
3384.)
P. 15. l. 490 _or or_, etc. = first ere, etc. = first before, etc. _fen_ =
mud, dirt.
"Man here is nathyng elles
Bot a foule slyme, wlatsom til men,
And a sekful of stynkand _fen_."
—(Hampole's P. of C., l. 566.)
See R. of Gloucester, 6; Ps. (in Surtees' Psalter) xvii. 43. 492
_drinkilden_ = were drowned; _drinkil_ is a derivative of O.E. _drinke_, to
drown, a softer form of which is _drenche_, which often signifies in O.E. a
drink, potion (R. of Gl., p. 151; Ayenbite, p. 151, _deaþes drenche_), as
well as to drink and to drown. See Laȝ. i. 64.
"& att te lattste _drunncnenn_ þeȝȝ
þa wrecchess, þat hemm trowwenn.
And at the last drown they
The wretches who them trow (believe)."—(Orm. ii. 181.)
"The see him gon _adrynke_
That Rymenil may of-thinke."—(Kyng Horn, 978.)
494
he began holy custom
Of prayers, and of god-fearing-ness,
for life's help and soul's comfort (counsel).
500 _alied_ = _halihed_ = holiness; _toch_ = _toc_ = took. 501 _fro mannes
mene_, from man's fellowship, society. The usual form of _mene_ in O.E. is
_ymene_, _ymone_ = common, general. 503-510 From Hampole's Pricke of
Conscience, pp. 122-126, we learn that both Enoch and Hely (Elijah) shall
come before doomsday to turn the Jews from following Antichrist to the
Christian law:—"For 1260 days, or three years, shall they continue to
preach. Antichrist, in great wrath, shall put the two prophets to death in
Jerusalem, where their bodies shall lie in the streets for three days and a
half, after which they shall ascend to heaven in a cloud. After their death
Antichrist shall only reign fifteen days, at the end of which time he shall
be slain before the Mount of Olivet." Some "clerks" affirm that he shall be
slain by St Michael in Babylon, "that great hill." (See "_Antichrist and
the Signs before the Doom_," in Jahrbuch für Romanische und Englische
Literatur, 1863.) 517 _Metodius_. In the "Polychronicon Ranulphi Higdeni,"
p. 23, ed. by Churchill Babington, 1865, amongst the "auctores names" we
find mention made of "Methodius etiam martyr et episcopus, cui incarcerato
revelavit angelus de mundi statu principio et fine." 518 _sighe sir_ =
_sigðhe sir_ = _sheer insight_, clear fore-knowledge.
P. 16. l. 525 _quat agte awold_ = what should happen. 526 _water wold_,
destroyed by water. _wold_ may = _walled_, flooded, from _wallen_. 530
_hore-plage_, whore-play, whoredom. Cf. O.Sax. _hor-uuilo_; O.H.G.
_huorgilust_. In O.E. _hore_ (not _w_hore) was an epithet applicable to men
as well as women. It occasionally signifies adultery. It is found in
combination as a qualifying term in _hore-cop_, _horesone_, a bastard;
_hore-hous_, a brothel. The O.E. _horwed_, defiled, unclean; _horowe_, foul
(Chaucer); _hori_, _ouri_, dirty; Provincial E. _horry_ (Devonshire), seem
to belong to another family of words.
532
_Wimmen welten weres mester_
Women wielded a man's art.—(See Rom. i. 26.)
See Allit. Poems, p. 46, ll. 269-272.
533
_And swilc woded wenten on_,
And such madness (folly) went on.
_woded_ = _wodhed_. Cf. _alied_ = _alihed_ = holiness (l. 500, p. 15). "Þe
oþer ontreuþe þet comþ of prede is _wodhede_, me halt ane man _wod_ þet is
out of his wytte, in huam skele is miswent."—(Ayenbite, p. 12.)
534
_Golhed hunkinde he gunnen don_,
Unnatural lust they did commit.
_Golnes_ = lust, lasciviousness, occurs in the Owl and Nightingale, l. 492.
Ancren Riwle, p. 198. Ps. lxvii. 14.
"Non lest (listen) on man do amys
Thorȝ hys oȝene _gale_ (lust)."—(Shoreham, p. 107.)
_hunkinde_ = _unkinde_, unlawful, unnatural. 536 _quad mester_, wicked
craft (practices). See Allit. Poems, p. 46, ll. 265-268. _Quad_ takes
several forms and meanings in O.E.; as _qued_, wicked (Kyng Alys., 5619;
evil, 4237); the devil (R. of Gl., 314); _quead_, wickedness (Ayenbite, p.
4); _quathe_, _wothe_, _wathe_, evil, harm (Hampole's P. of C., 2102, 4558;
Allit. Poems, B. 885).
"De _quât_ deit, de schuwet gêrn dat licht."—(Reynard the Fox.)
537 _hun-wreste plage_, wicked lust; _hun-wreste_ = _unwreste_, weak,
frail, and hence wicked.
"Mærling _vnwærste_ [_onwreste_] man
Whu hæuest þu me þus idon."—(Laȝ. ii. 228.)
"Þenne þat hæfd (leader) is _unwræst_ [_onwrest_]
Þe hæp (host) is þæ wurse."—(_Ibid._ vol. ii. 259.)
"Thanne aȝte men here wyves love,
Ase God doth holy cherche;
And wyves nauȝt aȝens men
Non _onwrestnesse_ werche,
Ac tholye,
And nauȝt _onwrest_ opsechen hy
Ne tounge of hefede holye."—(Shoreham, p. 57.)
See Orm. i. 168-9. A.Sax. Chron., 1052. Wright's Lyric Poems, 37. Kyng
Alys., 878. Owl and Night., 178. 538 _A ðefis kinde_ = in thief's kind, in
sodomy. _thief_ in O.E. was a general term of reproach. Perhaps in _ðefis_
we have an allusion to _Cain_.
542
_And leten godes frigti-hed_
And forsook the fear of God.
544
_And mengten wið waried kin_
And intermixed with accursed kin.
545
_Of hem woren ðe getenes boren_
Of them were the giants born.
—(See Genesis vi. 4.)
546
_Migti men, and figti, for-loren_
= _Migti men, figti and forloren_,
Mighty men, warlike and forlorn (doomed).
548 _litel tale_, little account (worth). 553 _blissen_ = _lessen_ =
_be-lessen_ (?) or _bi_ + _leschen_, to soften. Cf. _blinnen_ and
_linnen_ = to cease. See ll. 3653, 3803.
554
_ðat it ne wexe at more hun-frame_
lest it should grow to greater evil.
_hun-frame_ = _unframe_, loss, disadvantage. 556 _deres kin_ = animals.
P. 17. l. 560 _grið_, protection, safety.
"he wuneden (dwelt) seoððen (afterwards) here
inne _griðe_ and inne friðe (peace)."—(Laȝ. ii. 50.)
"Lauerd, lauerd, ȝef (give) me _grið_."—(Ibid. iii. 35.)
Cf. _greth_, quarter (Sir Cleges, 292). _grith-bruch_, breach of the peace
(Owl and Nightingale, 1043). _grith-sergeant_ (Havelok, 267). 561
_feteles_, a vessel, a _fat_ or _vat_.
"þe firrste _fetless_ wass
Brerdfull off waterr filledd."—(Orm. ii. 148.)
"Sex _feteles_ of stan war thar stan[d]and,
Als than was cumand in the land
And Crist bad thaim thir _feteles_ fille
Wit water, and thai did son his wille."
—(Met. Hom. p. 120.)
562 _set_, made, formed. _limed_, daubed, pitched. 564 _sperd_, _sparred_,
barred. See Orm. D. 261; H. i. 142, ii. 68; Havelok, 448. _spere_ or
_sparre_ signifies also to lock, shut up. _Chaucer_, Troilus and Creseide,
v. 455; _Bone Florence_, 1774. _ðig_ = _ðic_, thick.
566
_ðor buten noe(.) long swing he dreg._
Thereabout Noah endured long toil.
_swing_ = _swinc_, toil, labour. 568 _welken_, pass away, literally to
fade, wither; and usually applied to plants and flowers.
"It wites als gresse areli at dai,
Areli blomes and fares awai;
At euen doun es it brogt,
Un-lastes, and _welkes_, and gas to noght."—(Ps. lxxxix. 6.)
See Hampole's P. of C. l. 707. 576 _arche-wold_. See note to l. 255. 582
_gette_ or _get_, poured down. _gette_ is the preterite of _geten_ or
_gete_. See l. 585. Cf. O.E. _yhete_ (_ȝete_); pret. _yhet_; p.p. _yhoten_
(_iȝote_).
"_Yhet_ over þam þi wreth."—(Ps. lxviii. 25.)
See Ps. xli. 5, lxxiii. 21. Percy's Reliq. vol. ii. 81. Cf. "a metal
_geoter_," a metal caster, Kyng Alys. 6725. _out-yhetted_, poured out,
Hampole's P. of C. 7119. See Gloss. to Allit. Poems, s.v. _Gote_. 592
_moned_ = _moneð_ = month.
P. 18. l. 598 _dragen_ by metrical license for _wið-dragen_, withdrawn. _ðe
watres win_ = the water's force (strife). _Winne_ in O.E. has the
signification of to fight, contend with, strive, and hence to get. Cf. O.E.
_wunne_, victory; _wan_, contrivance, remedy. See l. 347.
"Alle we atter dragen off ure eldere,
ðe broken drigtinnes word ðurg ðe neddre;
ðer-ðurg haueð mankin
boðen nið and _win_."—(O.E. Miscell. p. 11.)
607 _est_ = east. Probably only an error for _eft_ = again. 614
_arche-wolde_. See note to l. 255. 617 _Rad_ = hasty, rash. Literally it
signifies ready, and frequently occurs in O.E. writers with this meaning.
Cf. O.E. _gerâd_, _rædlîce_, _rædliche_, _radely_, _radly_, promptly,
quickly, suddenly. See l. 2481, and Owl and Nightingale, ll. 423, 1041,
1279; Laȝ. 25603; St Marh. p. 10; Avow. Arth. xix. 6.
P. 19. l. 630 _tudered_ (see note to l. 164).
631-637
Often he prayed with timid prayer,
That such vengeance as God then did
Should no more on the world come,
What vengeance so _ever_ there should be taken.
God granted it in token of love,
Showed him in the welkin above
A rainbow, they call it, red and blue.
_so_ after _swiulc_ is a true relative, as in the oldest period.